Opposing teams are paying attention to Altuve

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A week into his major league career, Jose Altuve is already seeing some patterns developing.

First of all, he has at least one hit in each of the six games he’s played, wasting no time Tuesday with
an infield hit in the first inning.

But he’s seeing patterns in the way he’s been pitched on this road trip through Chicago and St. Louis, getting fastballs and specifically sinkers.

“They don’t know me a lot, and I know they’ll try to attack me with a lot of fastballs, and they’ve been doing that,” Altuve said. “The last series in Chicago and now, they’ve been throwing a lot of sinkers inside, and I knew they were going to do it.”

Altuve was back in the No. 2 spot in the order on Tuesday, hitting behind Michael Bourn, who is equally torrid and it seems equally aggressive. Altuve had been in the No. 7 spot for starts by Angel Sanchez and Clint Barmes in the 2 hole, but Altuve returned to the place where he started his career a week ago today against Washington.

“I think our lineup is better with him hitting up there right now with the way he’s swinging the bat and the way Bournie’s swinging the bat, there’s a couple guys where we might be able to get something going right away,” manager Brad Mills said.

Altuve can tie an Astros record today if he hits in a seventh consecutive game to open his career, which
Russ Johnson did in 1997.

Turf talk

Brad Mills spent his Tuesday afternoon on a little walk, not to the Gateway Arch or historic Wainwright Building, but to the outfield, where his players had so much trouble with the footing and bounces the day before.

Mills downplayed worries over the newly installed turf being loose and leading to slippage but addressed other concerns, including the spray paint and holes for the sprinkler heads, plus the concern that Cardinals officials initially had with the tempo.

“When balls are hit and you watch them bounce, that’s probably the biggest concern,” Mills said. “You just hope it doesn’t come into play.”

Work in progress

Brett Wallace was, as expected, back in the lineup a day after manager Brad Mills said he would be getting more sparing playing time as the Astros sought better matchups to get his bat hot again.

Wallace, who came in hitting .218 in July and without a home run since the last day of May, doesn’t think much has changed and didn’t say he was having any trouble with breaking balls, per Mills’ conversation with writers.

“I feel like I’m seeing the ball pretty well and putting some good swings on balls,” Wallace said. “They’re not falling in, but it’s a process, and I’ll go through ups and downs and I’m not really worried about it.”

Then there were four

As this week comes to an end, general manager Ed Wade and his assistants and professional scouts will meet in earnest to go over their scouting reports as the trade deadline looms four days away.

At the same time, the reverse has been true with the hitting-poor Giants and pitching-poor Reds among the teams with a presence at the Astros-Cardinals series this week. The Phillies, whose farm system the Astros have scouted, also have been tracking the big league Astros on this trip.

Tuesday brought few new developments except for a report from Fox Sports and USA Today that the White Sox may make Carlos Quentin available, which would add an alternative to Hunter Pence on the right-handed corner outfielder market.

Safe and sound

Hunter Pence said that nobody was injured in a windstorm that struck his hitting academy in northwest Houston on Monday.